FAQ

Myofascial Release Therapy FAQ

A small article about Yamuna Body Rolling was published in the local newspaper. I had been experiencing lower back pain at the time and was also in graduate school studying exercise science. I knew I wanted to become a personal trainer and was intrigued by the body rolling-work that could perhaps someday help not just me personally but clients as well.

In the spring of 2007, I traveled to Yamuna Body Rolling headquarters in New York. One can travel to various cities throughout the country to become certified, but I wanted to learn from Yamuna herself. Shortly after our training, Yamuna retired from teaching potential practitioners. She still teaches in her studio in NYC and travels all over the world teaching the work but no longer trains practitioners.

I attended the first phase training, which was basically a weekend intensive. I returned a couple months later to finish out training with the week-long second phase. I completed a written and practical exam and keep current by, of course, paying annual dues and also returning to NYC every two years for continued training. A monthly newsletter and keeping in touch with fellow practitioners guarantees up-to-date news and information as well.

Yamuna Body Rolling helps break the negative postural patterns that we all have developed and prevents us from developing new ones. Because it maintains the health, integrity, circulation, tone and flexibility of the muscles and keeps the skeletal structure well-aligned, it prevents us from developing restrictions as we become stressed, experience traumatic events, exercise, live out our daily lives, age, etc.

YBR cannot harm you if you do it frequently—as long as you practice it correctly, using the right type of ball, following the order of the routines as instructed and observing the cautions given. Even if you only have a few minutes, I recommend rolling daily, but even if you’re rolling two or three times a week, that is beneficial as well. Building a Better Body

You can do Yamuna Body Rolling first thing in the morning to rid the body of morning stagnation, or you can do it before bedtime to get rid of stress built up during the day. Yamuna Body Rolling can help you sleep better.

Work up each side of the spine. The back routine elongates the entire spine, stimulating all the nerve roots, and is the most beneficial to the whole body. In the morning, it will start your day off right by taking all the stiffness from sleeping out of the body and improving your posture.

There is a good hurt and a bad hurt. A good hurt speaks to you, saying, “Yes, that’s the spot-stay here.” A bad hurt says, “No.” It’s a warning; your body actually contracts and lifts off the ball. You need to leave that point and go to the next one. As you continue, you may find the sensitivity of that spot gradually decreasing, for as you create space in that area by using the ball above and below it, the pain has room to move out of the tissue.

The back routine stimulates all the nerve roots along the spine. In turn, these nerve roots stimulate the function of most of our vital organs. The abdominal routines stimulate the organs and glands directly. Both these forms of stimulation increase circulation (which boosts metabolism) and encourage lymphatic drainage (which reduces fluid buildup). Putting direct pressure into the digestive organs also helps them function better, so your elimination and digestion improve.

As we age, the organs become sluggish. You can eat right and take good supplements, but there’s nothing like direct stimulation to boost organ function. For example, women over 50 often complain, “I used to get on the treadmill and burn a lot of Calories and lose weight. That doesn’t work any more. No matter how much I exercise, the weight doesn’t come off like it used to.” The main reason is that their hormones have decreased, slowing metabolism. Because of this biochemical change, the body no longer responds to the treadmill exercise. Even when people push harder, they still don’t lose weight.

But when you work the abdomen with the ball, bringing your breath and your intention there, you increase circulation, bring more oxygen to the digestive organs, which improves their function and increases your metabolic rate. In addition, you’re giving the organs more space, which also helps improve their function. Now you will burn those Calories; in fact, people have lost weight doing Yamuna Body Rolling for precisely this reason.

Depending on his or her genetic inheritance, everyone has weaker function in one organ or another. So the organ routines also offer another way to focus on any specific weaknesses that may run in someone’s family.

Directly stimulating the organs results in a lighter and better-aligned torso, with a greater sense of freedom in the torso as a whole. It all comes back to my original Yamuna Body Logic principle of creating more space and length in all parts of the body.

Remember that organ function is a critical aspect of overall well being. If you boost circulation, you also boost the immune response, as well as the relaxation response, because when the organs have enough space and circulation, they aren’t being stressed. When they lack ample space and are irritated or inflamed, they are more reactive to the environment, which means more allergic reactions. It seems that direct stimulation of organs could be another way of preventing these types of problems, too.

Working the abdomen during the first day of your period (or the day or two before) might cause discomfort, but in general this work can do no harm. Many women who tend to get strong, painful cramps have found that doing the abdominal routines over time (not when you have your period) helps decrease the cramps.

Practice, training and competition cause a significant amount of microtrauma to the body. You have to bring balance. If you do not, such a poor decision will manifest itself through soreness, tightness, limitation, fatigue and even sidelining injuries. Along with adequate sleep, low stress levels and proper nutrition, body rolling can enhance and improve recovery and performance. It will also help prevent and heal injuries. Regardless of the sport, every athlete should incorporate some sort of myofascial release into their regular routine. Yamuna Body Rolling is superior in that it is mobile, self-sufficient and more versatile and effective than other products available to athletes. Compare a session of Yamuna Body Rolling to a session with the foam roller, and you will immediately see the difference and the results.

Please be sure to support your local Yamuna Body Rolling Practitioner. Yours is: Becky Bridson, Lawrence and Johnson County, KS. Becky will either have an inventory of what you need or can order any additional products. Products are shipped from NYC and usually take 5-7 days for orders to arrive in Kansas. Becky is more than willing to make local in-person deliveries or can have products shipped directly to you.

There are countless products on the market today touting the benefits that Yamuna Body Rolling offers. They are simply knock-offs. Yamuna is the originator and began rolling in the 80s well before anyone else had even thought of the concept. Yamuna Body Rolling equipment has been specially manufactured to provide the benefits it advertises. Additionally, no one else has trained and certified practitioners teaching the work. Yamuna has spent her career perfecting her trade and does not manufacture anything but Yamuna Body Rolling equipment. No one has any way of knowing who is manufacturing other products and how they are being manufactured or how long products will last. Yamuna Body Rolling equipment is extremely durable, so you are making a one-time purchase for every product you buy. Please be sure to support your local Yamuna Body Rolling practitioner. You may find Yamuna Body Rolling products on the Internet, but keep in mind you are supporting a small, local business when purchasing from a local practitioner and are receiving the highest level of customer service that is invaluable and hard to find via the Internet. All certified practitioners sell Yamuna Body Rolling equipment. Prices may vary.

Anyone and everyone. Yamuna Body Rolling benefits a young child and an elderly person and everyone in between. Testimonials have come in from all over the world and from all walks of life, including those who have been diagnosed with Type II Diabetes and after rolling no longer have the disease. There’s no research to support this idea, but Yamuna believes that putting direct pressure into the abdomen improved their (diabetes patients who were cured) pancreas function by increasing circulation. If just the basic rolling into the abdomen could cure Diabetes, what could you achieve if you worked with a focus on specific internal organs, applying direct pressure into them with your intention directed to their function? Yamuna decided that this should be one of our areas of practice. We tried it, and found that after we work this way on organs, the whole body is much lighter and more upright.

Below are just some of the populations/ailments Yamuna Body Rolling has benefited/improved.

Elite athletes, including professionals from various sports and also marathoners and triathletes (athletes have experienced great benefit from making rolling a regular part of their routine—those who do experience fewer injuries and recover more quickly following competition/practice and injuries)